The Second Round Ding Report

Mr. Private Equity

• 780 GMAT
• 3.6 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in economics and public policy from Princeton University, graduating magna cum laude
• “But had two Cs in difficult high-level physics and chemistry classes”
• Work experience includes two years at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking division and two years at KKR in its private equity group
• “Recommendations were from a partner at KKR (HBS alum) and one from a Nobel Prize winner professor at Princeton–both recommendations were excellent”
• Extracurricular involvement as a president of various clubs in college, a peer tutor, taught model congress in Trenton, NJ; currently involved with Princeton’s Alumni board, work with tutoring children, and am a partner of Giving What We Can, a charity that encourages effective donating
• “Honestly, I’m not really sure what happened. My essays were fine — nothing amazing, but certainly not bad. Maybe it was the C’s?”

Sandy’s Analysis: Hmmmmmm, surprising.

Why did you reach back to get a rec from a professor after four years of work experience. That is the only mild issue I see here. I wonder what happened at other schools? What happened to the kids in your class at KKR this year?

A small issue, this should have been a Round 1 application, but that was not driving the ding. At some point they get exhausted with profiles like this, but that won’t stop them from takng some dudes pretty similar to you off the wait list.

I suspect there is some other shoe to drop on this one. The number of true mysteries, once you have all the facts, especially at the early cut stage, is quite small. There will be some randomness in rich pools of KKR types, but not as much as you think.